John butler



JOHN BUTLER.

/ Improvement in Gas Retorts.

N0. 124,250. .Patented March 5,1872.

JOIIN BUTLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y. I

IMPROVEMENT IN GAS=RETORTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 124,250, dated March 5, 1872.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN BUTLER, of the cit-y, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Gas- Retorts; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompan ying drawing marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in gas-retorts for m annfacturin g illuminatin ggas from any ofthe hydrocarbons, and has for its object a more complete and perfect apparatus that will fully decompose all the materials used for making gas, thus preventing any condensation of vapors, and utilize the same. The nature of my invention consists in a basket, made of cast-iron or other suitable material, provided with a perforated bottom, so as to allow the gas and vapors to pass up into the basket, which is filled with charcoal or other porous substance, which, together with the retort, is-placed within the furnace, becomes heated to the same degree as the retort, thus converting into permanent or fixed gas all the vapors as it permeates the heated mass of coal. The basket is so constructed and arranged that it is made to iit the inside of the retort, so as to leave an annular space of about one inch between the outer side of the basket and the inner wall of the retort. The basket is provided with legs, on which it stands at the bottom of the retort, so as to leave a space, which is a continuation of the annular space before mentioned. v To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Figure I is a longitudinal vertical section of my improved gas-retort. FigzII is a side elevation of the furnace, showing the top of the retort and connections. Fig. III is a plan view ofthe bottom of the basket, showin g the perforations through which the gas and vapors pass into the basket.

Letters ,f like name and kind indicate like parts in each of the figures.

A represents the furnace of my improved gas-retort, and B, the retort, which is made of cast-iron. It is made very heavy, so as to re sist or stand a great degree of heat, and is somewhat bell-shaped. At or near the edge,

around the top, I make a groove, il, into which the cover U lits. `When the coverQ is placed in position upon the retort, the groove is lled with melted lead, which hermetically seals the retort. D is the basket, also made of cast-iron, and smaller than the retort, so much so as to leave an annular space, H, of about one inch on the sides of the basket. a a re resent lugs of equal lengths, cast around the sides of the basket, for the purpose of equalizing the said annular space. H. I also cast legs 'n a at the bottom of the basket, on which it stands at the bottom of the "retort, which completes the space around and under the basket, as clearly shown in Fig. I, so as to allow the gas and vapors to pass up through orifices e c, in the bottom ofthe basket, into and through the heated mass or body of coal, and out of the eduction-pipe G into the purifier, and from thence to the gasometer. J is the induction-pipe, through which the hydrocarbons are conducted to the retort. The operation of my invention is very simple and perfect. The basket is iillcd, or nearly nlled, with charcoal, N, or other porous sub-4 stance, and placed within the retort B, when the groove/i is filled with melted lead, and the cover C placed immediately thereon seals the retort, when the whole is set into the furnace and the proper connectingpipes are attached. A fire is then made in the furnace, and the re tort, together with the basket containing the chai-coal, is subjected to a high degree of heat.

There being no oxygen admitted within the retort, no combustion takes place in the mass of ccal, but is equally heated with the retort. When a sufficient degree of heat is attained, the hydrocarbons are admitted from a tank or reservoir through the induction-pipe J into the retort, where it falls upon the hot surface of the top of the basket, at which point a large portion ofthe material is converted into fixed gas. Thatportion of the material not so converted into gas rises in vapor in the direction ofthe arrows o o o o, and descends the annular space Il, impinging upon the hot sides of the basket and retort in its course, and when it reaches the bottom ofthe basket, the remaining vapor, together with the gas already made, ascends through the orices in the bottom of the basket up into the basket, permeating the heated mass of charcoal, where the whole of Ytort of sufficient size to receive a basket containing one-half bushel of charcoal, one thousand ,feet of thepurest illuminating gas can be made per hour.

Having thus described my invention, What l claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

A gas-retort, composed of the outer retort B and basket D, between which is an annular space, H, the 'said basket l) having a perforated bottom, whereby the gas and vapors are made to permeate a mass of heated coal in its course to the gasometer, substantially as herein shown and described. 4

J OHN BUTLER.

Witnesses:

A. T. SMITHE, Guns. RoGERs. 

